


Trials and Tribulations

by orphan_account



Category: Skating To New York (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2014-12-13
Packaged: 2018-03-01 06:38:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2763347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Life and Times of Jimmy (Not James) Mundell</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trials and Tribulations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tumbleweedterror](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tumbleweedterror/gifts).



Everyone had promised him the bright lights of the city, the one that never sleeps, but Jimmy knew better. He had studied every inch of the place before he had even had the chance to step foot beyond the Canadian border. Of course his friends thought all New York were was just Broadway, Times Square, and Central Park, but Jimmy knew better. They were idealists, just wanting to break out of their simple little town where everyone knew your parents’ parents and where they had gone to high school and everyone in your preschool class still went to high school with you.

            Ever since he was a kid everyone handled Jimmy “my name never was and never will be James” Mundell like he was a glass vase that if you accidentally squeezed too hard would break. When he was about three, he was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect, meaning he had a hole in between the chambers of his heart. His first real memories were catching glances of his mom before he had surgery, she would stroke his hair back with her hands and whisper how everything was going to be okay, more for herself than for him, he realized later. When he got the flu, he had to have special antibiotics just to make sure his immune system wouldn’t be compromised later on. Everyone else would be sick for a few days and come back good as new but sometimes it would take him a week to get back to school. In the meantime he always finished as much homework as he could, sometimes even his friends’ just for something to do.

            He never knew his father, James. He just knew he wasn’t him; he was Jimmy. According to his mom, James died before Jimmy could get the chance to remember him. Sometimes he recalled the slight musk of what must’ve been his dad’s cologne, or a silhouette in a picture. His mom never wanted to talk about it, though, so he just left it alone. Whenever he played hockey someone would always comment about “how proud your father would be if he could see you now” to which Jimmy would always just smile and nod. In reality he didn’t care very much. He never thought about what he would say to his dad if he ever had the chance to meet him again. Casey would always complain about his own father’s drinking habits, Bonie’s dad was so devoted to his work he never had time for anyone or anything else, and Rudy was terrified of his father. He reasoned that while it would’ve been nice to have a good dad, they’re also hard to predict. What if he met his dad and his dad didn’t care about him? Or only wanted him to be a doctor? Or was too disappointed by his own shortcomings to see everything he was? Jimmy thought he had it good where he was. Around ninth grade his mom remarried, to a nice guy who was an engineer in a nearby city. A year or so later his mom was pregnant with a baby girl, a little sister.

            Even though almost everyone was aware of his heart condition, it never gave him much trouble, aside from one day. Practice that day had been rough, he just felt fatigued for no real reason, and the game that night had been even worse. What’s more was that when he tried to shoot the puck into the opponent’s goal, a member of the opposing team decided to pick a fight with him. Jimmy seriously did not have the energy to do anything to fight back, and so he found himself face down on the ice, wind knocked out of him and head aching but something wasn’t right. His heart was beating way too fast for the situation, and he could barely breathe. His face was flushed, but slowly paling. This was not like anything he had ever experienced before. He tried to tell himself not to panic, that that would only make everything worse and potentially send him into shock if he wasn’t breathing correctly. The cold temperature of the rink only made it worse. His aggressor stood back in shock. It had only been a few punches right? This surely couldn’t be his fault. It felt like an eternity had gone by before Casey skated over to help him over to the paramedic table, who called an ambulance for him. Aside from being the longest few minutes of Jimmy’s life, it was humiliating. He seemed like he was going to pass out after getting a small punch to the gut. As it turned out, the oxygen wasn’t flowing correctly to his lungs, causing him to feel more shortness of breath and some fatigue. Sure he was relieved but he hated being in hospitals. They smelled like hand sanitizer and death.


End file.
